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A mortgage holder with a defaulted home loan has settled a potential class action lawsuit with PHH Mortgage Corp. after he alleged that the company inflated property inspection fees.
Kirk Culver sued the company in 2020 and said in a proposed class action lawsuit that PHH improperly charged him markups on its costs for third-party property inspections for defaulted loans, Law360 reports.
According to the claim, PHH contracted with a third-party vendor that used a computerized system to generated property inspections every 20 to 30 days, and with each inspection, PHH added between $15 to $19.50 to Culver’s mortgage.
However, the actual cost of the inspections were “much less than what was charged to plaintiff,” the class action lawsuit said.
Although Culver sought to represent other mortgage borrowers who had allegedly been through the same thing, his counsel told Law360 that after discovery they found “that the claims were not ripe for class certification.”
“We, therefore, turned our attention to resolving our individual client’s claim and damages, and we are very pleased that we were able to do so,” Zachary Ludens of Zebersky Payne Shaw Lewenz LLP said.
Ludens said that deal spelt the end of the Class claims in terms of Culver being the Class Representative.
In June, PHH tried to get the case tossed out, but U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron ruled in Culver’s favor and allowed his claims of breach of contract and violations to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as well as allegations of violations of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, Law360 reports.
PHH said in its motion for dismissal that it did not qualify as a debt collector and shouldn’t be subjected to the laws Culver was suing under. However, Judge Byron cited PHH’s statements that include an amount due, a $72.22 late fee that “may be charged,” and a clear statement saying that the letter is from a “debt collector attempting to collect a debt,” as evidence it does act as a debt collector.
“If the instant communication — which includes clear language identifying defendant as a debt collector attempting to collect a debt, a potential late fee of $72.22 and a total amount due — does not qualify as a debt collection communication, it is difficult to comprehend what would.”
Last September, PHH reached a $12.6 million class action settlement with homeowners who alleged that the company’s practice of charging what it referred to as “processing fees” when customers made their home loan payments online or over the telephone — fees ranging from $17.50 to $7.50 — violated the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and were in breach of their mortgage contracts.
Have you ever taken out a loan with PHH? Tell us about your experience in the comments section!
Culver is represented by Jordan A. Shaw and Zachary D. Ludens of Zebersky Payne Shaw Lewenz LLP, J. Matthew Stephens of Methvin Terrell Yancey Stephens & Miller PC and Darren R. Newhart of Newhart Legal PA.
PHH is represented by Dale A. Evans Jr. of Locke Lord LLP.
The PHH Inspection Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Culver v. PHH Mortgage Corp., Case No. 6:20-cv-02292, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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77 thoughts onMortgage Holder Settles Lawsuit With PHH Mortgage Corp After Alleging Inflated Inspection Fees
PHH Mortgage are charge fees and payments I do not owe. Have tried numerous time to have the amounts correct. Each times I was told something different. I have sent proof that the amount that PHH say I owe I do not. I had to file bankruptcy to save my home. 07/06/ 2022 Community Affairs of Ga. Paid my back payments to them which I truly didn’t owe them plus 3 months in advance payment of 2111.19. I received a statement from PHH Mortgage saying my August 2022. Payment was due and what I owe is exactly the same amount that Community Affairs paid them for the three consecutive payments. I called them and asked how can I owe them for the same amount that was paid to them. This company needs to be stopped. How can they legally get away with this?
PHH is a crooked outfit that charges fees for this, that and the other without explanation. I had many sleepless nights when dealing with this Company.
PHH is the worst mortgage company! I would love for someone to audit my account that I had with them. They continually charged all kinds of ridiculous charges and fees. They also accepted payments and then later returned them saying I was behind so they could foreclose! This company does so many Illegal practices, but even the CFPB couldn’t stop them!
OMG.. I hate PHH. I was out with COVID-19 and I reached out to them so that I can apply for COVID-19 release program. They granted my request. I reached out to PHH to inform them that I can start making payments. They sent me a modification forms so that all my rear can be place on the backend. I had the forms signed and sent back for approval. In the process of the mail reaching them. I did not receive a call or email that the forms were completed incorrectly. I travel with my company. While being on my business trip. They did not send me an email or a phone call indicating that the Modification forms needed to be completed over. Or, when I return home I immediately sent the forms back. They indicated the forms are now corrected. However, the forms arrived to late. They will not offer me a re-modification. Now I’m facing Foreclosure.
I believe they are charging me late fees and other fees since they took over my account from Ocwen.
I have a deal with this m…. F… in the last 3 months. They put my march payment on wrong account and started harassing my family with late fees. I spend hours on the phone with some people from India. Verbal communication was hard, because reps, escaped manager and ext had problems with English language. The only that I understand was sorry. They play with my money over 3 months 😡. Next step for me is to visit Colorado office. Hope is not fake
I agree. They took over my parent’s mortgage from OCWEN. Then said they did not recieve money orders. Foreclosed and harassed my mom out days after my dad died. Turns out they recieved and cashed both money orders. We have been homeless.
Yes. They transferred
My mortgage from Owen and when I paid them they returned the payment and started foreclosure. This company wants to take your house.
My mom has been living in her car for two years because her house was wrongfully foreclosed on. Her mortgage was with OCWEN. Who sold it to PHH. She can not find anyone to approve her to rent. She had the same full time job for 30 years. Its automatic denied. They are all done through rental agencies. The same handful in areas. You have to pay $30-70 per adult application. So $60-140 for us to be denied. And 95% of the time they already have an application picked and are pocketing that money. Real good way to scam people. Just tell them its an application fee and pocket it. Tell them they were denied or someone else was picked. Her husband, my dad died May 4, 2021 in the height of the quarantine. We were homeless May 6, 2021. Our mortgager was changed from OCWEN to PHH. They said they did not get the money orders. They harassed and threatened us out while grieving. Saying they would have us arrested and taken from our property. My dad had been hospitalized in and out for the prior year to his death. They took over foreclosed, sold the house to deutsche National bank, then they quickly sold it. Turns out they had recieved the money orders and cashed them. I got companies sent to me from Rouse’s market. Where my mom bought the money orders. They had endorsed and deposited them less than a week after getting them. My mom’s credit score was in the high 900. I did not even know they went that high. Now she is living in her car paying notes on a washer and dryer in storage she cant use. My parents had just remodeled the kitchen and bought new beds and mattresses. All in storage now with kitchen counters. But they got the new water heater, A/C and thermostat. New aztec tile and hard wood my parents put down by hand. Btw the mortgage payment was $638 a month. 4 bed/2 bath. Carport, garage with 2 more carports on almost an acre with a chain link fence in a good suburban neighborhood in walking distance of the elementary and high school, 3 churches. My mom is 73 years old. Her and my dad were married over 50 years. She had worked her entire life for a house that she paid on for 20 years to now be living in her car and have people turned their noses up at her. Whats even worse is the new “woke” employees at her work make comments about “at least they have a house” to her. My mom has never been arrested, had a traffic ticket, never even been late or called into work. Has never taken a sick day. We have no family. So it feels like we are being punished for it. There is not way around it. We have to be homeless and then we will still get denied because we don’t have rental history.
We also had similar experiences with phh. They were able to legally steal our house from us and despite all these settlements our names were never on any of their list so we never received a dime.
Where did you find or get the information that your name or loan was not part of the lawsuit?
They aire awful. I think they need to be sued and put out of bisness
5/12/22 My reverse mortgage was sold from one corrupt outfit, Champion Mortgage, to another corrupt outfit, PHHS. I’ve sold my property and requested a payoff statement. I’m seeing outrages charges on the payoff staatement amounting to over $2800.00. In addition they’re claiming my loan is $411,000.00 and change when my last statement from Champion indicated $403,000.00 and change.
Monday I’m reaching out to the attorney’s that represented Culver and sending the information to the attorneys suing Champion. These crooks can only get away with their fraud, and I think, money laundering tactics, if we let them…
I did a reverse mortgage with Liberty Reverse Mortgage which is a dba of PHH. Both are corrupt. Each phone conversation, you are told you are on a recorded line so I didn’t record all the conversations. Upwards of 70 calls and over 100 – 200 hours of conversation. Those recordings would prove the abuse and manipulation use with seniors. PHH refuses to release the recordings. Took 6 months to close because of their delays and my interest rate doubled. As far as I am concern they are criminals. I think their strategy is to outlive the senior by elevating the issues and never getting it resolved in a timely manner. Then they can steal a huge amount from the seniors estate. This has negatively affected my health due to the stress and games. One of my questions is how many seniors have given up and died because of the deceptions and activities of this company.
This needs to Stop!
PS I do have some recordings and they are very telling.
This company is as crooked as they come especially in the way they treat elderly people with the reverse mortgage process. I have so many things that happened, too many to mention here.
One example is when I was sent an email with a screen to authorize payment for the appraisal. There was no cover letter, just this screen to put your credit card #, once you put that information in, the next screen says that it may cost more so charge may increase. When you check out, no receipt, ability to question anything, no phone number or any way to contact them. Seniors don’t need receipts, right? I did call my agent with the reverse mortgage (Liberty Reverse Mortgage) agent to complain. PHH will not release the phone recordings. There is more to this story and why I signed that. FYI – by the time I closed they changed the terms of the loan and doubled interest rate.
I currently have a loan with PHH Mortgage. My wages were cut by $600.00 per month and as a result I got behind on my payments. They told me to apply for their loan modification program which I did. I was approved and made each and every payment per the contract. Months after completing the contract PHH came back and said they made a mistake and I wasn’t approved after all. How can they just approve you and you actual do everything to the letter of your contract and they can just say they made a mistake. I requested an investigation saying that I have a signed contract showing I was approved and that I successfully made all the payments per the contract. That’s just fraud plain and simple. I was forced to reapply again for another loan modification and again I was approved and wouldn’t you know it they did the exact same thing to me again. They came back after I made the payments and said the loan was not approved after all. Even though I have a signed contract? They even lied and said that none of the calls I made trying to get this resolved is on record. A bit convenient don’t ya think? Talk about a lieing and cheating company that conveniently changes the rules so it fits in their favor. Fraud is fraud, plain and simple. I’ll probably have to file a lawsuit now.
My reverse mortgage has been sold to phh mortgage services as of 5/1/22, its a hecm hud b jed how do i get rid of this new holder of my reverse mortgage phh services seem to be a currupt co looking to take advantage of repurchased mortgages home owners, how can i get the goverment backed loan to another lender?
I have a mortgage that was also sold to PHH. Here is another way they get your money. Every year my Home Owner’s insurance goes up. I shop around and find it cheaper somewhere else. They want me to just sign the check sent to me by the old insurance company and send it to them. The first couple of times I did just that. Then It would take them 8 months to reflect the decrease on my payment. I would pay the higher payment for those 8 months. I would only get 4 months of payments with the lowered home owners insurance reflected on my mortgage payment. Not only that but I would get $1000 check from the old insurance company that PHH paid them for the HO insurance and they would only have to pay the new HO insurance company $8.00.00. What happened to the $200.00 difference. Ive never got a escrow overage check from them at the end of the year. So, last year and this year I deposited the check into my back account. (Check is made out to me) and tried to make a deposit into my escrow account. A $17.50 fee would have to be paid for them to do that. They do allow me to deposit money into escrow directly. So, to get around that fee I write them a check for the amount and send a letter with it stating what it is for and my account number. That worked last year and I am going to do it again this year. I saved $310.00 on my HO insurance this year and I’ll be damned if I am going to just sign the check over to them.